Need insight: inside cat litter houses and dog pens

I had to do a job at the local humane society, today. Talked a little with the Director. I would like to construct inside cat litter houses and inside dog pens, leading up to outside dog houses eventually. Unsure of pricing just to cover my costs or a small extra percentage ontop as of yet. But was thinking, for every “adoption”, I could offer to construct such a structure. Something “quaint”, no junk yard dog structure.100% of my wood working has been wood shop related: plywood and douglas fir. Never any finishing, or sanding, or sealing, or specific wood species selections. I guess my question for those who are interested, what would be a suitable wood species to start with? I’ll be doing mostly dado’s and floating tenons (trying to stay away from screws). Unsure yet of the structure’s bottom underneath kitty litter box (1/16th plexiglass maybe). Should be fun ongoing project for a good cause, while giving me experience (‘o Lord do I need experience) of building structures other than fliptops and mobile carts :)Of course.. then I have to research sanding and sealing. But that is another day.-eric

-- Yes, my profile picture is of a Carpenter Bee! The name is derived from the Ancient Greek "wood-cutter"

3 replies so far

Cats pee all over ther litter boxes. It would be impossible to keep anything wood dry and odor free.I have 3 cats and 3 litter boxes. They are all enclosed and have to be cleaned on a regular basis. They are all made out of plastic and have to be cleaned with bleach.I can’t see anything made of wood to be a workable idea at least for cats.

I am not sure what sort of box you are thinking about, but with pets, I don’t see how wood would work.

For my cats the inside litter box is a regular cat litter box enclosed in a cabinet. a few things: for th einside of the cabinet, you can use whatever material is cheapest, reason being that you will want to cover the whole thing with a metric ton of coats.

Minimum of 5, I would go as high as 15 with no questions asked. :) You wouldn’t need that many if you were doing it for your house, where you have only a cat or a few with no territorial issues.

But for a shelter type situation, you will have a various cats with various stages of territorial insecurity, and in that case, it is like Steve said – they will pee all over the place to get their scent in there. That is why I reccommend the cheapest materials with a thick, thick, thick film finish (it can be epoxy, latex paint or whichever similar that is cheapest for you)